Mar 11, 2009

Dental Drah-Ma and an EXTRA dose of Drah-Ma...

So on Saturday night, we awoke to the screams and whines of our youngest daughter, Emberlyn. After many attempts at deciphering what was bothering her, she finally revealed her tooth was hurting:( She has a cavity on the bottom left in one of her molars that we've known about since her last dentist appointment, but since she was only two and a half, they wanted to put her under general anesthesia to fill the tooth. I wasn't comfortable with that and asked if we could wait six months or so and try again, thinking maybe she would mature just enough to sit through the procedure. The dentist agreed and said we were taking a chance, that hopefully it didn't become infected or painful before her next visit. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, but we didn't make it....or so I thought. Let me also preface this by saying that this is her only cavity and all my other children have really healthy teeth, with maybe a tiny cavity here or there over the past twelve and a half years. Never had a kid with this large of a cavity before, it makes us feel terrible as parents that we didn't prevent it and keep it from getting bigger:( Anyway, I called Monday morning and made an emergency appointment with our pediatric dentist. We took her in (Randy met me there) and could not believe the difference a few months makes!!! She was a little apprehensive at first, but nothing a little bribery couldn't fix;) She let them clean her teeth, examine them, and even let them take x-ray pics!! We are so proud of her, I can't even begin to tell you the ordeal we had last time we took her in. The difference was like night and day! (they prescribed her antibiotics and we have to take her back to be sedated for the root canal/crown or extraction, whichever they end up doing)

Now for the DRAH-MA! Ok, so after the appointment it's like 1:30 and Randy met me there with his truck. He's like, you take her straight home and I will take the prescription to Wal-Mart to have it filled. Oh, and since we are both starving, you should call us in some grilled chicken sandwhiches at Chili's (which is right by our Wal-Mart) and I will pick them up after I get her script. Sounds great!! This day is actually turning out not to be so bad. So I'm following him along the highway and just after I turn on Brodie and he kept going straight, I hear the dreaded stomach-lurching-upheaval sound coming from behind me. I pull over on the side of the road and get her out of the car seat, all the while she is continually wretching and gagging. I manage to pull my cell phone out and call Randy who turns around and arrives as I'm trying to wipe her up. We had to take her dress off...note, the pretty dress she is wearing in her pics...totally ruined, even if I could get the stains out, the bad karma associated with the "puke dress" is enough to keep me from ever dressing her in it again. Her car seat is unsavable. Which is actually a good thing, since I've been wanted to buy a new one anyway, so Randy pulls it out of the car and throws it into the back of his truck to dump later. We switch her over to Avelyn's car seat (Avelyn is at my friend Jessica's house), and say our goodbyes again. I call Jess and tell her to have Avelyn waiting at the curb, cause I'm in the puke car and my daughter is naked...no time to stop! Pick up Avelyn, finally get home and Emmy is hungry so I make her a light snack (she hasn't eaten since breakfast and of course her tummy is growling having emptied itself of all its contents earlier). At this point, I'm getting ready to shower both me and Emmy, slightly wondering where my husband is, as he should be getting home soon with our lunch and Emmy's medicine. Just then, my phone rings with an unfamiliar number showing on the call display. I say hello, and it's my lovely husband telling me that he made it to Wal-Mart, but that there is a slight problem. When he parked and went to get out of the truck, a gust of wind came along and blew the papers he had in his hands all over the parking lot. We're talking the dental papers and Emmy's prescription...it was very windy on Monday. So, off he goes...running here and there trying to trap down all the papers, looking like a crazy nut....finally gets them all gathered, walks back to his truck, only to realize that the wind blew his door shut...with his cell phone, wallet, and keys locked inside......HELLO.......Seriously?????!!!!! He had to walk inside, ask where the pay phone was, it was ripped out of the wall, so he had to walk over to the HEB and use the pay phone to call yours truly. He told me he called our insurance company and they were sending out Pop-A-Lock, but that it would take an hour and that our Chili's food needed to be picked up, as it had been an hour since we called. Unbelievable!! I had to dress the girls, two of us still unbathed, and pile them back into the reeking puke car to go pick up our now soggy chicken sandwhiches at Chili's. We got home just in time for the boys to walk through the door from school. Randy finally came home around 4pm, right in time to grab Noah for baseball practice. All this, and I didn't even have Americal Idol to look forward to Monday night!! That is why, yesterday, I swore I wasn't leaving my house and I was going to have a drama-free day, but that was not to be either. I'll spare you the details, but it involves a friends' sad news, a dog fight, the neighbors, swearing in front of children, flying remote controls, and formal statements to the Kyle Animal Control officer. Today is a new day, so........BRING IT ON!!!!!!

Reconnecting with Friends:)

This past weekend was nice, seeing friends we haven't been able to hang out with in a while:) I'm so thankful for all our friends that we have made here in the years we have lived in Kyle (even if some of my BEST ones move AWAY!!!!).

Mar 4, 2009

Fire, Wind, and Miracles...Bastrop, TX Wildfire

This past weekend my Granny and Uncle Paul, who live off of Hwy 71 in Bastrop, had a deputy knock on their door telling them to evacuate immediately. There wasn't even time to grab any belongings other than to snag some pictures off the wall on the way out. A few minutes before, they say they heard sirens and could see smoke over the trees, but never thought anything about it being an out of control wildfire heading straight for their house! By the time they were following the patrol car out of their driveway, the black smoke was so thick they could barely see the road and the flea market across the highway was completely engulfed in flames.

They drove to the top of the hill and pulled over to the side of the road and watched the billowing black smoke for hours...along with other residents that also had to make a run for it. My uncle called me and I was trying to give them updates from the web and tv, because no one was talking to them or giving them any information. They left their house at around 2:30pm and finally about 8:30pm or so, Uncle Paul found a deputy that could identify their house and told them that, yes it was still standing....but that the highway was closed down and no one would be allowed to go back that night. They were on their way out of town anyway, so they just trusted everything was fine and left on their trip to SE Texas, where we have family.

I couldn't sleep knowing that they didn't actually see visual confirmation of their house and found out the next morning that Hwy 71 had been reopened, so we packed up the kiddos and headed out on Sunday morning to inspect the damage. What we saw was incredibly amazing...all around their house was black, the house behind them (though vacant, their neighbor lived in it until a few months ago when she passed away) was completely burned to the ground, the flea market was gone and the only damage to their property was part of their fence was charred and the new riding lawn mower was partially melted. The crazy thing is, that the fence was burned so bad, but then it looks like it just stopped. The deputy told Uncle Paul the night before that his Jeep looked ok in the yard, and my uncle was like "I don't own a Jeep", so all we can figure is that some good samaritan was driving out and stopped, unrolled the waterhoses that were in the yard and fought the fire back from their house. Their waterhoses were stretched out all across the yard.



When we arrived Sunday morning, there was still emergency personnel everywhere, even in their yard...firefighters were walking around spraying the hot spots...there was still some smoking coming from my Granny's fence!! We were scared to leave it unattended since the fireman told us to keep the house wet, the situation was still precarious enough that if the wind shifted it could give some of those hot spots the strength they would need to rage again. Needless to say, my family had to come home from their trip to watch over their house and property.

It was a very scary experience for them and it made me really think about 72 hour kits and their importance. You really never know how much time you will have when you are told to evacuate..it literally could be less than two minutes and what would you do? I just knew that all of those irreplaceable photographs of my grandpa, mother, and uncle who have all past on, were lost forever:( I'm so grateful for those who prayed for them and sent a miracle our way...thank you so much. Ironically, my granny was on her way to put flowers on my grandpa's grave, because that weekend was exactly seven years ago that he left his love and this world.......thank you grandpa for watching over your sweetheart and her home...we know that he was there:)
On the way out the we watched the Blackhawk helicopter refilling his big water balloon tank thingy..whatever you call it. The kids thought is was pretty cool and so did we.
WHAT a weekend!!!! I'm just glad it's all over, that everyone is alright and that the house is still standing. The experience has given me a lot to think about regarding preparedness and getting our family ready for whatever should cross our path, be it a wildfire, storm, chemical spill...whatever it may be, you just never know...nothing can be worse than the vulnerable helplessness you feel when you are completely caught off guard and not prepared. There's no way you can possibly prepare for everything, I know that...but if we make a true effort, I feel that Heavenly Father will help pick up our slack. That happened this weekend, and for that I am forever grateful!! Love you Granny and Uncle Paul...more than you'll ever know!!!:)


Feb 24, 2009

Shrimptastic!!!!

Ok....those of you who know me well, know that I have a thing for shrimp! Just like Bubba on Forrest Gump, I can rattle off at least fifty ways I love to eat my favorite seafood. The only exception being coconut-crusted shrimp...I don't know, something about it just throws me off...BUT never one to waste a shrimp, I just peel off the coconut and enjoy:)

Recently, I've discovered the Costco shrimp in their freezer section. It comes in 2lb. bags and is already peeled and deveined (with the tail still on). It has THE best taste, even though it's been frozen...and the best part is, it is $11.99 a bag! I think that is a good price considering they are pretty generous in size and they are already peeled/deveined. SO, since we are trying to incorporate a healthier lifestyle for our family, we like to have shrimp twice a week for dinner.

With that said, I want to share with you one of my favorite and quickest ways to prepare these tasty little creatures:) First, I must give credit to The Pioneer Woman for the inspiration and original recipe that I loved so much. Her spicy shrimp is soooooo good, but I thought we would have to give it up forever, since it uses SO much butter. In the south, a lot of people make their own version of this dish, sometimes calling it BBQ shrimp or cowboy shrimp...kind of like everyone has their own version of gumbo, tweaking it here and there to suit their regional palette.

What I did was similar, but all I do is spread my shrimp evenly in a shallow baking dish or jellyroll pan, drizzle with a minimal amount of extra-virgin olive oil, about five shakes of Worchestershire sauce, sprinkle with lemon pepper (to taste), and garlic powder (to taste). Maybe a little seasoning salt or sea salt, but not too much. Mix it all around with your tongs and put it under the broiler in your oven for about 7-10 minutes, checking every few minutes and turning with your tongs. This last time, I added a carton of fresh mushrooms for the last four minutes and it turned out just right, with the mushrooms absorbing just enough of the sauce, but not becoming soggy. Garnish with some fresh lemon wedges to squeeze on your shrimp, add a salad or baked potatoe and VOILA...quick, healthy, DE-LISH-IOUS dinner that everyone loves!! (at least in our house)




If you are a shrimp loving house like ours, try it and see what you think! It's very easy to tweak to your tastes, experiment and find out how you like to make it. I'm having fun trying to take some of the recipes we have always loved and make them healthier. If you have a favorite recipe you have done that to, email it to me to try out on the fam. I'm always looking for new ideas:)
P.S. Sorry Laschelle and Ryan, I hope you made it through this post without gagging...you two are the only ones I know who don't like shrimp! (not that there's anything wrong with that;)

Feb 20, 2009

Spring is in the Air...and Other Musings...

We have had gorgeous weather this week! It's hard to stay inside on beautiful days like this:) I am so thankful that we've remained healthy (knock on wood) when there is so much flu/strep/lice outbreaks/stomach viruses going around all around us. I'm sure our time is coming, but this week, it was a blessing to be healthy:) Monday, we met up with some of our friends at the Buda park and the kids were able to play with friends that go to different schools and they don't get to play with often. We brought scooters and just let the kids run free! Wednesday is the day I watch Lusia and so we went to playgroup with our snacks. The weather was perfect but I did get a little too much sun and my face paid the price....Ouch! After we came home, we watered the grass and the girls played in the front garden. They found all these little snail shells and thought they were so cool. Also unearthed was an unlucky earthworm and a cricket that was just a little too slow. Poor things, they started out wriggly and full of life, but by the time the girls were through with them, I could detect no movement from our captive creatures:(

Today, we are going shopping for a carpet steamer so that I may begin my battle with our white, yes white, carpet. I HATE, loathe, detest carpeting in the house. If I had my way, I would rip up every stitch and live on bare concrete floors until I could afford wood throughout the house. Since this is a rental, I have no such option, so the next best thing is to steam the heck out of the carpet I'm stuck with. Dirty carpet is my pet peeve and I cannot rest if I see a spot. Worn areas in the pile drive me nuts too, so I have a method for combating that (an intensive process involving a steel bristle brush). I really hate it....and why does it have to be white???!!!! Ok Ok, carpet rant over...(for now)!

Anyway, I'm so glad it's Friday...I hope to be able to find someone to watch the kiddos so that I can go to the cannery in the morning, but it's looking pretty hopeless. I have limited resources when it comes to finding people to watch my kids and I harldly ever ask, but I really want to go tomorrow. The usual people I ask are either vacationing in Cancun or have a semi-lice scare going on in their house. Randy has to work Mardi Gras, it's mandatory (of course) and the only family we have to ask has to travel an hour to get here, but it doesn't matter anyway, because they are busy. Seriously, it's pretty frustrating! I can't wait until Jordan can demonstrate to me that he is responsible enough to watch his siblings for an extended period of time (longer than 30 minutes), but as of now, I just don't feel comfortable leaving them here when I'm so far away, and Lesley is not even home to keep an eye on the house or for the kids to run to if there is trouble. Oh well!!

SO, I am off to enjoy the weather with my two daughters, grocery shop, and to compare the features of various carpet steamers, I'm just glad it's finally the weekend...laissez les bons temps rouler!!!!!!!!!



Feb 18, 2009

Spiderman:)


So, Jonah has been obsessed with Spiderman since he was three, he's now six and a half. I think that beats the longest running toy/hero obsession we've ever had including Jordan's Pokemon and Power Ranger phase. Noah never seemed to settle on one thing long enough for it to evolve into an obsession, who knows why? But since Jonah is my last son, it gives me a smile to still see him loving his Spiderman action figures so much (I just noticed this particular one is missing his right foot), I hope it lasts a while longer...I will miss it when it's over...we love you Spiderman!!!